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Former England captain Paul Ince has blasted the Three Lions' current crop of players, claiming they no longer cut their heads and bleed enough in vital qualifying games.

“We're giving out caps to players who don't even want to get a nasty grass burn, let alone open up a painful cut on their head, forcing them to play on with a massive bandage on their bonce,” complained Ince, who nicknamed himself 'The Guv'nor' despite having never actually run a pub.

Ince, who lost two pints of blood in his 53 caps, most notably against Italy in a 1998 World Cup qualifier, made his comments after Fabio Capello's England side disappointingly failed to shed a single drop of blood against Wales this week.

“When I played for my country the FA wouldn't officially award us a cap unless we sustained some sort of deep gash and came off the pitch a bloodied hero,” said Ince.

“We had pride in our blood-drenched shirt. When we played away from home, I remember Bryan Robson dislocating body parts for his country because blood stains alone weren't visible on the red away kit.”

Former England defender Terry Butcher, who helped the Three Lions qualify for Italia '90 by nearly bleeding to death against Sweden, has joined Ince in criticising the current team.

“They literally don't cut it for me,” said Butcher. “Ben Foster doesn't even want to be considered for the squad in case he grazes his knees, whereas I used to headbutt the changing room wall and wrestle naked with tigers before games to make sure I would be shedding blood for the full 90 minutes.”

An FA insider tells us that the governing body plans to refute these criticisms by releasing video footage of Frank Lampard sustaining a nasty pre-match paper cut, while reading the official matchday programme.